For most young women, turning 18 is a milestone celebrated with a huge party surrounded by pals and enjoying their first legal drink.

But Hannah Jones wanted nothing more than to blow out the candles on her chocolate cake last Sunday and spend the day quietly with her family, only too aware it was a birthday few, including herself, thought she would ever see.

At 13, she made global headlines after refusing to have a life-saving heart transplant. Despite being told her own organ had been so badly damaged by treatment for leukaemia she could die within months without it, she was determined not to have the surgery.

Having spent her time in and out of hospital Hannah calmly told doctors she would rather live a short life in peace at home than spend a single day more away from her family. And controversially, parents Kirsty, a former nurse, and auditor Andrew, stood by her.

Even when her local hospital applied for a High Court order to force her to have treatment, the youngster managed to convince child protection officers it should be her decision.

But, after winning her battle, a year later at 14, and on her terms, she had the transplant.

Now, four years on, Hannah is living a life she never dreamt possible.

She says: “I’m so grateful for my transplant, and glad I decided to have it.

“It’s given me a life I didn’t expect, a chance to grow up, to follow ambitions, maybe even get married and have a family.

“I didn’t think it was possible to live like this. I’d always been so sick. It was a shock to realise how much energy a person can have.

“I remember the first time I could swing myself on the garden swing, the first time Mum could let me go to McDonald’s with my mates.

“I didn’t think I’d ever do those things.

“Now I’m revising for A levels, I’m planning to leave home and go to university, I’m learning to drive.

“I can dance and sing, at one time I could only watch Glee and wish I could join in. I’m determined to miss nothing.”

Hannah was five when she was diagnosed with leukaemia and spent long periods isolated in hospital.

She says: “My first memory is of clinical wards. All I wanted was to go home.”

She went into remission at seven and spent time at primary school, even starting secondary.

But her heart was so badly damaged by ­the treatment it began to fail. She tried a ­pacemaker, but at 13 doctors told her she needed a ­transplant. Her reaction shocked them.

“I said no,” she says. “They were showing me photos of kids on a holiday camp who’d had transplants, they were smiling.

“But I just knew I didn’t want it. It just felt too big. The doctors left the room with my parents. I knew they were going to try to persuade me but I couldn’t face any more.”

And even though she was told she would die, Hannah was resolute.

She adds: “Mum told me but I didn’t cry. I don’t remember her crying. I’m sure they did behind closed doors.

“She didn’t force me. I’m grateful. I can’t explain why I was so certain, I just knew.”

Hannah went home after two weeks but her parents were told child protection officers would visit to decide whether Hannah should be taken from them temporarily.

But her maturity persuaded them to leave her be.

“It is difficult to believe I made that decision,” she says.

“But I ­overwhelmingly felt I wanted to be at home. I’d look at my siblings playing in the garden, I couldn’t join them, but just by watching I felt involved.